Actually, this is the current bridge over the Tennessee River. A total of 3 bridges will be built, but the
main 4-lane span over the river itself will cross just a bit to the right of this
photo.It will replace the double lane
bridge in the photo which, as you can see, passes directly over the Fort Loudon
Dam.

This 2-lane bridge over the Tellico Canal
will remain in place.The footings under
construction here are for the second 2 lane bridge that’s being built to run parallel to the existing one.

The Tellico Canal connects Tellico Lake
with Fort Loudoun Lake.Both lakes
represent the uppermost reaches of the commercially navigable portion of the Tennessee
River.The roadway using the bridges is
US-321 which leads from I-75 and Lenoir City on the west, to Maryville, Townsend
and the Smoky Mountains National Park.

This view is the reverse of the previous
photo.It shows the beginnings of a
roadbed being build-up for the second bridge span over the Tellico Canal.

I have no idea just how many high power
lines and transmission towers have to be moved or removed in order to complete
this project.But, since the Ft. Loudoun
Dam is a major source of electricity, I’m sure that the Tennessee Valley
Authority’s portion of the project must be very significant…

Continuing back toward the west, the
Tennessee River itself and Lenoir City, this is the build-up of the 4-lane road
bed on the west side of the river.This
giant crane has been assembled to handle the heavy lifting required for bridge
building. This ‘island’ between the
river and Tellico Lake with its connecting channel was mostly forested before construction
began.

Somewhere along this portion of the new
highway, an interchange will be built to tie US 321 into Loudon County Road 444
(also known as Tellico Parkway) and Tellico Village.As there are frequent
accidents at the current interchange, any new design will have to be an
improvement.

Another giant crane has been assembled on
the east side of the Tennessee River.As
you can see, the roadbed is beginning to take shape.The existing roads lead to the Fort Loudoun
Dam viewing areas, a city park, marinas, restaurants, a walkway for fishing and
an outlet to homes south of the dam.This
will all change with the construction.

This is a reverse view from the previous
photo.This view toward Lenoir City shows
additional major earthmoving efforts as the construction workers build up the
new 4-lane roadbed. (Love that dark red clay!)

Currently, the access road to the
marinas, restaurants and the city park loops to the south and then passes over
US 321.Apparently, the new plan is to
use part of the old highway to access a major local church and the attractions
as mentioned.This photo shows the
current US 321 2-lane highway looking toward Lenoir City.This new ‘cut’ in the hillside will provide
the roadbed for the new access road…

This final view is right at the
intersection of US 321 and US 11 (Lee Highway), in Lenoir City.We are looking east toward the river.This is the westernmost end of this 1.71 mile
long project.What used to be a 2-lane
highway surrounded by forest is now a large gash in the earth as the prep work
for the new 4-lane roadway is finalized.

The other large crane in the distance
will probably be used in the construction of the 3rd bridge…the
4-lane replacement structure that will pass over the railroad tracks the pass
under the roadway about where the traffic looks a bit bunched up off in the
distance.

More to come in the future…as this
project will not be completed until May of 2015!

Just click on any of the photos to
enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and checking out
this large employment project!

3 comments:

I remember once driving back from Columbus, OH I was so tired that we stopped in Lenoir City overnight. I was surprised at how much water there was – the river is quite large in that area. I hope this work will help circulation for people who live there.